Laxfield is a small ancient village in northern Suffolk, England. It is located at a distinct bend in today's B1117 road.
History
Laxfield arose in Saxon times as it is known that an early church was there and the village itself appears in the Domesday Book. In 1226 Laxfield was given charter to hold a market and Saturday was selected.
The All Saints Church in Laxfield is largely of 14th century construct and was essentially complete by 1488.
The village and the surrounding area, like much of East Anglia, was a hotbed of Puritan sentiment during much of the 17th century. Being the birthplace of the iconoclast William Dowsing as well as the home of many of his kin, it was natural enough that Laxfield became a puritan parish. By the mid-1630s, the Fiske family and others had departed for the Massachusetts Bay Colony as part of the wave of emigration that occurred during the Great Migration.[1]
The Village has local amenities such as a hardware store, a village shop (currently run by the Manchester Co-operative Society) and a primary school. It is home to All Saints' Church, the Royal Oak Pub, and the Kings Head Pub (known as the Low House). Laxfield has one of the biggest communal playing fields in Suffolk, at almost eight acres, which has a large children's play area and a bowls green. There is also a newly refurbished village hall at the centre of the village as well as a small museum in the Guildhall (ca. 1520). This building housed a doctor’s surgery from the
1930’s until it closed in 2018. The interesting museum, open during the afternoon on summer weekends, has now taken over this space as an additional display area and a new office.
There is a friendly Produce, Craft and Flea market from 10am until 12.30pm on the first Saturday of each month. Over 20 stalls in and around All Saints Church and the Royal Oak offer a wide and ever-changing range of products including local foods, crafts, plants, books and collectibles.
The Hardware Store, Grayston Brothers, was formerly a full garage, but now only performs minor repair work and tyre changes.
The King's Head Pub, known locally as 'The Low House' due to its position below the church and the village centre, is unusual as it lacks a bar. Beverages are served from the pub's traditional tap room at the back.
There is a Baptist Church in the centre of the village, with services every Sunday, both morning and evening. The church holds various activities for all age groups, weekly and throughout the year. On the front wall of the chapel there is a plaque commemorating the burning at the stake of John Noyes in the village on 22 September 1557.
References
^Thompson, Roger, Mobility & Migration, East Anglian Founders of New England, 1629-1640, Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1994.
2001 Trevor Cooper, ed. The Journal of William Dowsing: Iconoclasm in East Anglia during the English Civil War. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 2001. xxiv + 551 pp ISBN0-85115-833-1.
